Letters to the Editor

Explain yourself, Rehberg

Glacier National Park is a sanctuary for wildlife, backcountry enthusiasts and international visitors. Teddy Roosevelt and his contemporaries guaranteed us access to and preservation of such lands in the spirit of both protecting the natural landscape and inviting individuals to enjoy it in a leisurely fashion.

H.R. 1505, supported by our congressman Denny Rehberg, is threatening both tourism (upon which our community depends) and our natural environment (which grizzly bears, showy asters and the psyches of future generations rely on) by giving Homeland Security free reign for 100 miles into our fair nation. With this extended power, they will not merely be securing our borders but be able to overturn 36 laws largely environmentally based while disempowering the individual stewards who are most knowledgeable and best suited to care for these lands.

This is not about terrorism. We are fighting an imaginary “drug war” that since its inception has served to overpopulate our prisons, wreak havoc on our judicial system and cause us to lose sight of our nation’s priorities. I love national security as much as the next (bunker-building) guy, but at some point we have to realize when we’ve gone too far.

I urge you, Denny Rehberg, to explain to us how this represents the values of Montanans who, time and again, ask for fewer restrictive laws, more freedom to enjoy our public lands and less bureaucracy hindering one’s ability to honor and cherish the land we have left.

Roads will be built. Fences will go up. Motorized traffic will plague our wild lands. Glacier National Park—our backyard!—will become the spectacle that Arizona has become and you, Mr. Rehberg, my friend, will become a disgrace to Teddy Roosevelt and the other honorable men who have realized the value of our land and its preservation.